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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Mal. 1
God made a statement through Malachi that caught my attention. He said, “The deceiver is cursed who has an acceptable male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord.” (Mal. 1:14a). This statement made me think about our salvation. Jesus is the acceptable male that we all have in our flock. The question is, do we choose to let Jesus be our sacrifice? If we think that our salvation comes from or is even bolstered by our own efforts in any way, we are sacrificing defective animals to the Lord.
Mal. 2
Interesting how this period of post-exile rebuilding ties back to Numbers 25. I mentioned with yesterday’s reading in Nehemiah how Balaam finally managed to curse God’s people by defiling them from within. Numbers 25 describes the results of his actions. It also mentions God’s covenant of peace and a perpetual priesthood for Aaron’s son, Phinehas, “because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.” (Num. 25:13b). Here in Malachi 2 God sent a decree to the corrupt priests in order to preserve that covenant. The verses expounding on this give what to me sounds like a description of Christ. This description ends with, “For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should desire instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Armies.” (Mal. 2:7).
I see so much in all of this! I doubt that I could even put it all concisely into words. But I will say that Malachi’s prophecy connects the period of Israel’s wilderness wandering – when God first established the Mosaic Law and the entire temple system, this period of post-exile reestablishment, and Jesus’ time on earth – when He made similar decrees to the priests of His day. It shows how Jesus fulfills the priestly part of God’s new Kingdom as well as the royal part of it. And it shows how we who seek knowledge and instruction from Jesus are the priests of His Kingdom. Thus, I continue to be more than amazed at how the entire Bible fits together in such an intricate, multi-layered, fractal way.
Mal. 3
I see still more connection between God’s words through Malachi in Ezra and Nehemiah’s day and Jesus’ time on earth. God declared, “See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me.” (Mal. 3:1a). Not coincidentally, Malachi’s name means, “my messenger”. This indicates to me that the message God sent through Malachi is the message of His Messiah. Jesus is God’s perfect declaration against human corruption. Malachi’s prophecy not only indicates this, but it also tells of Jesus’ coming and purpose. “For He will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach.” (Mal. 3:2b).
Mal. 4
God goes one step farther through Malachi to foretell of John the Baptist. “Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.” (Mal. 4:5). This prophecy took my mind again to the fractal nature of God’s Word. We tend to associate “the great and terrible day of the LORD” with Christ’s second coming and God’s final judgment. I am beginning to think this is as correct as the presumptions of the ancient Jews that God’s Messiah would come as a conquering king. We can see today that, while this still may be true, the presumption skipped a layer.
My thought, then, is that perhaps “the great and terrible day of the LORD” first describes the time that Jesus died on the cross, conquering death forever with His resurrection back to eternal life. That day was terrible, both to His followers because of their perceived loss and to the forces of evil He defeated. However it was also great because it opened the gates to salvation.